Falmouth care worker's last minute decision to travel to London

Stephanie Toomey, 63, finished work at Amberley House, Truro at 7am on Thursday morning and felt 'determined' to go to London straight away. She waited at the train station in Truro for a train to London, and eventually caught the train at 8.55am.

Although the train took between five and six hours, Stephanie couldn't sleep, even though she had done a 12-hour night shift the night before, saying: "I felt nervous, and didn't know what to expect."

Stephanie arrived in London at 1.30pm where she walked from the station to Westminster. Reluctant to travel on the underground in case she got lost, Stephanie then got a taxi to join the end of the queue which at that time was about four miles away.

When Stephanie joined the queue, she met some people from Cambridge who stayed with her until after they had left Westminster Hall. They swapped numbers and have remained in contact.

The group was given orange wristbands a security once the queue started moving forwards, and she said: "I have kept my orange wrist band upstairs as a reminder of the experience I had travelling to London."

Stephanie queued for 14 hours before she eventually paid her respects.

After 14 hours, Stephanie finally entered Westminster Hall at around 4am where Queen Elizabeth II was lying in state. "It was a beautiful experience but silent," she said. She then eventually paid her respects to the Queen, with a prayer and a bow to the coffin.

After she had left Westminster Hall, Stephanie walked to Paddington Station around 5am, for the return journey. She said: "London was deadly deserted and there wasn't a soul about, it was also really cold."

At 8.04am, after nearly 72 hours of no sleep, Stephanie got on the train to Truro, and fell asleep until it reached Taunton, where she woke up, and desperately wanted a cup of tea.

Stephanie eventually arrived back in Cornwall after three days and slept from 6.30pm until 10.30am the next day.